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About this release

Detailing 36 CDs’ worth of first-class recordings, this release is dedicated to the complete keyboard sonatas of one of the Baroque period’s greatest composers and virtuoso performers: Domenico Scarlatti.
Born in 1685, Scarlatti spent the majority of his career in the service of the Portuguese and Spanish royal families – with the latter appointment enabling him to devote his full attention towards composing for the harpsichord. This unusual cultural background accounts for why the Italian’s music, though contemporary with that of Bach and Handel, differs so much in comparison–Spanish dance rhythms (such as the flamenco), and folk tunes with Moorish and gypsy-like flavours, indicate that day-by-day-street life was a great source of inspiration to Scarlatti.
Written in single-movement form, the 555 works comprising the collection also reveal Scarlatti’s development of new playing techniques, including note repetitions and fast passages in parallel 3rds and 6ths, not to mention his important pioneering of structures – which in turn point to the impending emergence of the Classical style. They are performed with gusto by Pieter-Jan Belder, whose assured interpretation does full justice to this important body of late Baroque music.

Other Information:
- Recorded 2000–2007.
- The most recent and only digital complete edition of Scarlatti’s keyboard sonatas available, a huge undertaking which offers catching and inspired performances of the 555 pieces, varying from utterly Spanish to pre-classical.
- Includes detailed booklet notes on the composer, the music, the performers and the instruments.